NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $99.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $73.83, but opened at $72.33. NextEra Energy shares last traded at $71.14, with a volume of 2,160,716 shares changing hands.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on NEE. Guggenheim increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,401.44. The trade was a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,641.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,861,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817,037 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4,058.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,366,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309,876 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 167.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after purchasing an additional 851,873 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 4.5 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $72.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $144.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.49%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets.